Sunday, January 30, 2011

Anasazi (Fava Bean) Chili with Quinoa

A timely post! Tonight, I made a different kind of chili...

Recipe Source: Vegan Planet: 400 Irresistible Recipes with Fantastic Flavors from Home and Around the World by Robin Robertson
    "Anasazi Chili with Quinoa" - page 320

I didn't have anasazi beans, or either of the alternatives it suggested - pinto or kidney, which was weird - usually, I have loads of black, pinto, and kidney beans. Guess I need to go to the grocery with a list!! I decided to go with fava beans, though. Go figure, I have a somewhat more obscure bean... A few pages back in this cookbook, it said that fava beans are meaty, and this recipe said that anasazi is a "sweet, meaty bean." Close enough, right?
I also didn't have the small red bell pepper it called for, so I used a can of chopped mild green chilies.

This is a relatively standard chili - some chopped onion cooked until soft in olive oil, add the spices (chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt), add chopped/diced tomatoes, beans, and water, let simmer for a bit. I used a can of no-salt-added diced tomatoes and a can of fava beans. I don't think I gave it the full 30min of simmer time it called for, but it seems to have been long enough - probably closer to 10-15min. Serve over cooked quinoa. I made a half recipe, and that seems to have been a good amount of food for 2.

It seems to have turned out pretty well - a bit spicy, but that seems to be a common theme with Robin Robertson's cookbooks - her chilies have a nice kick to them - not a bad thing at all! My brother liked it too! I like the combination of quinoa and the chili - much better than rice. And the fava beans became very tender with cooking. This is definitely a recipe to repeat!

Here are pictures --
Starting to simmer...

Ready to eat. You can't really see it, but there's quinoa underneath...

Penne (or Rotini...) With Creamy Asparagus Sauce

This is rather delayed, but I still wanted to post this... This is from early in January 2011.

Recipe Source: 1,000 Vegan Recipes, By Robin Robertson, ©2009
    "Penne With Creamy Asparagus Sauce" - page 207

I made a rather tasty pasta meal - it was Pasta (I used rotini) with "Creamy" Asparagus Sauce. It was quite good, however, the term creamy is a bit of a stretch. It was mostly a combination of cannellini beans and asparagus, half of it chopped up in the food processor (i.e. blender, since I didn't have a food processor at that point), and then mixed into the un-blended portion. Seeing as I followed the recipe pretty carefully, I'm not sure what texture it should have been, but it sure wasn't the creamy I was expecting... I was expecting something more the texture of an alfredo sauce. I will probably try this recipe again, next time, with fresh, instead of frozen, asparagus. And with plain, instead of original Silk soy milk as the liquid.
Here are pictures - it looks kinda weird, but it really was tasty!!
Minus the pasta, all cooked...

Ready to eat!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Hello!!

Welcome to my new blog. I decided, after watching the movie Julie & Julia, that it would be cool to do something similar. You should really watch that movie if you haven’t… I plan to cook my way through a vegan cookbook, trying each general recipe at least once. Meaning, I’ll try any main ingredient once, but if I really don’t like it, then I’ll skip other similar recipes, or substitute that ingredient. I will try to post something each time I cook, including a picture or 2, or 10…

This goes along with a goal to try eating more vegan foods. I don’t necessarily feel that strongly about being vegan, but I know that I eat a lot better when I have something rather strict to focus on. And, I felt so much better during this past November when I decided to try sticking to a vegan diet for a month. I made it almost a month before finding myself at my parents’ house for Thanksgiving. That month was amazing. I lost a little weight, had more energy because I was eating better, and felt better about myself in general. I really think the vegan aspect was relevant – I have eaten what I would define as a very healthful omnivorous diet before, and didn’t feel anywhere near the effect.

I am also making a point to get some physical activity, most days of the week, so I may throw in some pictures/commentary from that too. General life may well trickle in as well, but I’ll try to keep tags accurate.

Comments, suggestions, etc are certainly very welcome. As I have benefited greatly from other people’s blogs in the past, I intend to keep this blog public,  however, comments will be moderated to the best of my (reasonable) ability.